Éowyn
Skills ++ swordmanship: Éowyn is a shield maiden of Rohan, like she calls herself and as such has learned to wield a sword and fight with it. She might lack the strength of a full-grown male combatant, but she is swift in return, and also agile. This woman can definitely hold her own for a while with a sword. This is also one of her greatest weaknesses though, since she just can’t accept the place she might be given as a woman, with the helpless and the caring, and would rather like to take matters in her own hand and doesn’t see any value in staying behind where it is safe. ++ riding: Her name means ‘horse-lover’, and as a Rohirrim, she has imbibed the love for horses with infancy. She is fascinated by horses, and they seem to like her. She is one for the fiery horses, which might often result in her becoming a little too reckless in choosing her mounts, if she overestimates her own abilities. She may call it skill, but there is also a huge amount of luck involved she hasn’t broken any bones yet when being thrown off. ++ observant: she has keen senses and a good intuition which makes her see through many a façade or pretense, especially when it is an evil hidden behind a mask of goodwill. That however does require a closer knowledge of the person involved, she might be fooled at first glance just as readily as anyone else. Once she has made up her mind about the person though, she also will not hesitate to address her suspicion, which might get her in a lot of trouble. ++ thorough: When Éowyn does something, she does it properly, and she will not stop until her task is finished. As a noble lady, she got away with such finnicky-ness, but in a different surroundings, this skill could be viewed as the weakness of stubbornness and even over-correctness. ++ the new world: Another big weakness of Éowyn’s might also be her strong connection to Rohan. She will not like being torn out of her lifestory so unexpectedly at an important turning point, and the thought of what would have happened to her loved ones will be very prominent in her mind, making her unwilling to adapt to her new situation. She would have been one of those time after time trying to escape from Pandora, even though the rational part of her brain would have told her it’s impossible. Since she also comes from an almost to be called medieval setting, it will be hard for her to find a place in this strange world. Personality Even from her earliest childhood on, Éowyn was thought to be a bit of a wild child rather than your coy and wellbred noblewoman. She rather ran around with her brother and cousin. Éomer and Theodred, and she would insist of being trained in the art of swordmanship just like them. Overall, even though she knows the meaning of loss and sadness from an early age, Éowyn is a cheery and warm-hearted person who loves to laugh and isn’t easily judgmental. She is also curious to learn new things, especially about the different races of Middle Earth, and she might transport at least a fraction of this curiosity to the new world she has been stuck in, wanting to find out more about the different races that inhabitate it. What she hates most is someone fencing her in, clipping her independence and most of all she hates being used as a tool or trophy in the schemes of men, without being asked or consulted, reduced to her body or her gender like Grima Wormtongue did when he struck a deal with Saruman. Éowyn has her own mind and she is keen on using it. Despite being a woman and sometimes even so much more than a woman in her soul, Éowyn also can have the heart of a little girl, especially when it comes to feelings. When her own life and that of her people was threatened she yearned for a saviour, someone who would come and redeem the suffering and fragile kingdom of Rohan, and she found this person in Aragorn, whom she fell for with heart and soul. He was everything she had been waiting for and more, and her adoration soon turned into something more, even though deep in her heart of hearts she realized he was not reciprocating her feelings. Now, thinking to have lost him in battle and having lost her beloved home in its dire hour of need without means of knowing what became of it and without the possibility to return and do her share to fight for it, Éowyn has been brought to a near breaking point. All ties have been cleanly cut and left a heap of raw wounds she first has to deal with, even though she tries to keep the hope alive that someday she might return to Rohan and in the meantime refuses to be reduced to mourning and denial. Éowyn is strong and she might yet come out of this as an even stronger woman, if she just finds a cause or a challenge worth dedicating herself to Appearance Éowyn is about 5’6 and weighs 118 lbs, which makes her still slender, but also a bit more muscular than the average noblewoman, due to her sword exercizes she has been doing since being a girl. Her hair is long and wavy, down to her midsection and of a golden-blond color, marking her the Rohirrim without any questions. She holds herself with the grace and agility of a Rohan shield maiden, which is often also visible in her steps, which are a little too broad for a noblewoman of her time. Her eyes are blue, but depending on the light, they sometimes have a green-ish hue to them as well, and they look at the world with a gaze that belies curiosity and a strong will, but every so often you also get the impression that these eyes clearly have seen too much. From her sword excersizes, her fingers also are a little more callous than you would think, and she definitely doesn’t hesitate when some practical help is needed. When coming to Pandora, Éowyn wore the plain brown and blue riding dress she had been wearing on their journey to Helm’s Deep, and she is still seen in dresses, wherever she can find them. Even though she fights like a man, the idea of dressing like a man, in trousers, like so many women do here doesn’t appeal to her in the slightest. She also doesn’t wear many jewelry except for special occasions, to show that she is still a woman with status. Relationships History Éowyn was born in the year TA 2995 to Éomund and Theodwyn of Rohan and as such niece to king Theoden of Rohan. She was their second and last child, being preceeded only by her brother Éomer whom she formed a deep bond of affection for from the earliest age. Éomer was everything Éowyn wanted to be, and if that meant surpassing her ‘role’ as a girl, she would not hesitate to do it. At the tender age of seven, she and her brother lost their parents in close succession, leading them under the care of their uncle, King Theoden. Éomund, Chief Marshall of the Mark of Rohan and always ready to defend his land, had been caught vastly outnumbered in a skirmish with marauding Orcs. It might be true Éowyn inherited the reckless streak from him. Theodwyn, stricken with grief, fell ill soon after and just wasted away. Ever since then, King Theoden has been more of a father than an uncle to Éowyn, and his son Theodred was as close as a brother to both the orphaned children. They grew up together, and slowly it seemed like the wounds that had been cut would heal. Soon however, the years seemed to catch up with Theoden far before his time, he became ill and aged at a rapid state. Eowyn, who held much love for her uncle took it on herself to nurse him, but despite her best efforts, she once again had to watch someone she loved slipping trough her fingers. Deep inside her, Éowyn knew that something was wrong, but she just couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She greatly disliked Theoden’s advisor, the slippery Grima Wormtongue and her intuition wanted to tell her that he was respsonsible for the king’s visible decay with his poisonous words that seemed to turn him against everyone, even his son and nephew. But then Éowyn also feared she would let personal animosity rule her mind, she feared she might be overreacting, even though every time she saw Grima look at her, she felt like she wanted to run and hide. Even though she loved her uncle, caring for his sick body wasn’t what she had aspired for her life, and she often yearned to ride out with Theodred and Éomer to defend the Mark from the Orc hoardes that threatened it. But she was confined to womanly tasks and bit back her wishes for Theoden’s sake. Things were spiralling down at a deadly fast pace, and the lowest point was reached when one day the injured body of Theodred was carried back to the Golden Hall, after he had been caught in a skirmish with Orcs, just like her father. Theoden himself seemed too far gone to even care or understand what they were trying to tell him. Helpless, Éowyn had to watch Grima Wormtongue taking over the command, banishing Éomer from Rohan on pain of death. When Theodred died, it was like all hope for Rohan had died with him. One of Éowyn’s worst nightmares seemed to have taken to life when Grima approached on her, speaking words of fake comfort and revealing his ugly, true face to her without all doubt. In that moment, the shieldmaiden of Rohan felt as helpless as she had never felt before, seeing everything she held dear slip through her fingers. Running out of the Golden Hall, she wished for a miracle to happen, even though she knew miracles never came without a price. Wasn’t there anyone that could save Rohan in its hour of need? Right at this moment, in her lowest low, Éowyn found her prayers to be unexpectedly answered by the arrival of Gandalf the White and his small fellowship. Riding with him was a man called Aragorn, and he was every inch the hero and strong, wise leader she had been hoping for – and so much more. Éowyn at first didn’t even notice it, but she fell for the mysterious man that carried himself with such natural poise and self-assuredness, she saw the leader in him they had all been waiting for. Aragorn did nothing to encourage her almost girlish crush, but he also didn’t put a firm end to it, like he maybe should have, had he only realized how far gone Éowyn already was. Encounters like an unexpected sword fight did only fuel her affections, but even though he had called her a shieldmaiden of Rohan, he didn’t seem to understand her need to prove herself beyond the boundaries of her gender. When they were fleeing to Helm’s Deep from Saruman’s approaching army, and were unexpectedly attacked on the way, Éowyn, despite her pleading, was told to lead the women and children onward, while the men fought. She consented in the end, but a part of her heart and soul remained behind, fearing for the fate of her loved ones. It was a cruel twist of fate that once again her hopes and dreams should be thwarted, as the greatly decimated troops finally reached Helm’s Deep. Aragon, the new hope of Rohan and possibly all Middle Earth, and the hope of Éowyn’s slowly withering heart was not amongst them, and she had to hear from his fellows that he had been falling off a cliff while fending off wargs and orcs. Remaining as composed as she could be on the outside, she felt everything shatter inside her and as soon as she could, Éowyn fled to a secretive place inside Helm’s Deep, shedding tears of remorse and regret and wishing the earth would just swallow her up to end this feeling of hollowness – but she wouldn’t have expected her prayers to be answered yet again. Without comprehending in the slightest what sorcery she had fallen prey to, Éowyn of Rohan felt herself being seized by something that looked like black tendrils, and pulled under into the ground – to be released into the strangest world she could have possibly imagined. Pandora History